Student Mix Project

E

Ezekiel

New member
I'm currently doing a mix for Kevin Doyle (who I'm very lucky to have as a teacher) in my audio post program. First mix of the semester, no pressure :thumbs up:



Some notes of mine upon listening back:

- I feel the drums could be punchier (possibly just a level boost in db as the drummer is very good, on great gear, and in a beautiful room)

- The vocals feel TO outfront (or just straight up to loud) and unbalanced (the singer did a live off the floor cut with the band and therefore was in and out on the mic a lot. they kept that take, so the proximity effect is happening often. anything on how to counter the proximity effect on this track would be awesome :) perhaps a multiband compressor to reduce the peaks in her voice at the frequencies that really pop hard. i have compressed the vocals fairly heavily but it still hasn't smoothened them out as im hearing in my head. a pass of volume automation with the fader could possibly do it too)

Those are the main things that popped out to me upon listening back. Do you hear anything weird? And what are somethings I could do to fix these?

Thanks a ton :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
OK, here is my spin on your mix. Kick is a tad to heavy, I would pull it back some. Vocals, you are right, they are too much out front. You could level out the vocals first, then mix them back in (so many ways to do this, but I suggest manual level, not a gadget level.) High hat (I like high hats) should come up(touch) or use some pan to get the somewhere else. Adjust the highs down just a bit above 10K (not a lot, just to remove some brightness).

The rest is hard to say until those adjustments are made. The guitar could come into its own after some of those adjustments. Couldn't here the bass, but until I hear the next version, I wouldn't touch anything else.

Let's see what the others have to say.
 
DM60 said:
OK, here is my spin on your mix. Kick is a tad to heavy, I would pull it back some. Vocals, you are right, they are too much out front. You could level out the vocals first, then mix them back in (so many ways to do this, but I suggest manual level, not a gadget level.) High hat (I like high hats) should come up(touch) or use some pan to get the somewhere else. Adjust the highs down just a bit above 10K (not a lot, just to remove some brightness).

The rest is hard to say until those adjustments are made. The guitar could come into its own after some of those adjustments. Couldn't here the bass, but until I hear the next version, I wouldn't touch anything else.

Let's see what the others have to say.
Click to expand...

Awesome. I agree with all of this. Once I get a few more tips from people I'll keep working on the mix :)
 
This is a great start. I agree with DM60 about the vocals - they come out of the mix too much, especially during the chorus.

I would suggest adding a touch more compression to your drums, sub them if they are on multiple tracks and run them through a multipressor. The higher frequency notes seem to disappear a bit into the mix and sound a touch muddy. The multipressor will help with this along with your EQ.

The song itself is excellent and I like how you have widened up the backing vocals. Perhaps widen up the guitars? Maybe a sample delay on your guitar track, or duplicate your guitar track, pan left and right and push one track 1 or 2 milliseconds forward.

Those are my very humble and not necessarily great thoughts :thumbs up:
 
I think it's right. I wouldn't touch it. Vocals too outfront? Nah, I like it this way. But if you don't like the level when she belts it out, get in there with the automation.

The song rocks, the performances are great, the singer's voice is delicious, the mix is in. What's not to like?
 
elmedia said:
This is a great start. I agree with DM60 about the vocals - they come out of the mix too much, especially during the chorus.

I would suggest adding a touch more compression to your drums, sub them if they are on multiple tracks and run them through a multipressor. The higher frequency notes seem to disappear a bit into the mix and sound a touch muddy. The multipressor will help with this along with your EQ.

The song itself is excellent and I like how you have widened up the backing vocals. Perhaps widen up the guitars? Maybe a sample delay on your guitar track, or duplicate your guitar track, pan left and right and push one track 1 or 2 milliseconds forward.

Those are my very humble and not necessarily great thoughts :thumbs up:
Click to expand...

I will give the drums a listen and use your advice, thank you very much. Do you mean the high frequencys of the drums or of t he over all mix? :)

dobro said:
I think it's right. I wouldn't touch it. Vocals too outfront? Nah, I like it this way. But if you don't like the level when she belts it out, get in there with the automation.

The song rocks, the performances are great, the singer's voice is delicious, the mix is in. What's not to like?
Click to expand...

Well thank you very much good sir :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top